SimCity 2000
SimCity 2000 (
SC2K) is a
simulation/
city building computer game and the second installment in the
SimCity series of games.
SC2K was released by
Maxis in
1993 for computers running the
Apple Macintosh and
MS-DOS operating systems. It was later re-released on a number of different platforms
[SimCity 2000 at MobyGames. Retrieved on June 19, 2006.], including:
Amiga (1994),
Microsoft Windows,
SNES (1995),
Sega Saturn (1996)
PlayStation (1996),
Nintendo 64 (1997), and
Game Boy Advance (2003).
In 1995,
SimCity 2000 won "Best Military or Strategy Computer Game" Origins Award.
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A city located among mountain ridges, from the Windows version of SimCity 2000. |
The unexpected and enduring success of the original
SimCity, combined with the relative lack of success with other
"Sim" titles, finally motivated the
development of a
sequel.
SC2K was a major
extension of the concept; the view was now
dimetric instead of overhead, land could have different
elevations, and underground layers were introduced for
water pipes and
subways. New types of facilities included
hospitals,
prisons,
schools,
libraries,
museums,
parks,
marinas,
zoos,
stadiums and
arcologies. Players could build
highways,
roads,
bus depots, and zone land for
seaports and
airports. Enacting city ordinances and connecting to neighbouring cities became possible. The budget and finance controls were also much more elaborate.
News comes in the form of several pre-written
newspaper articles with variable names that could either be called up immediately or could be subscribed to on a yearly basis. The newspaper option provided many humorous stories as well as relevant ones, such as new
technology or recent
disasters.
SimCity 2000 is the only game in the entire series to have this feature, though newer versions have a
news ticker. The newspapers had random titles (
Times,
Post,
Herald, etc.), and prices based on the simulated year. Some newspapers have a special humor column that contains a monthly writing by Ms Sim.
Though there is no "true" victory sequence in
SimCity 2000, the "
exodus" is a close parallel. An "exodus" occurs after the year 2051 or later, when 301 or more Launch Arcologies are constructed; each one "takes off" into space so that their inhabitants can form new civilizations on distant worlds (although the visual representation of scene consists of the Arcologies exploding in a manner similar to bulldozed buildings, one by one).
This reduces the city's population to those who are not living in the Launch Arcologies, but it also opens wide areas for redevelopment and returns their construction cost to the city treasury. This is related to the event in
SimEarth where all cities are moved into rocket-propelled
domes that then leave to "found new worlds" (leaving no sentient life behind).
|
The Launch Arcology, one of four arcologies featured in SimCity 2000 |
Two notable tricks (or
glitches) involve the Sea Level tool in the Terrain Editor. By manipulating this tool, players can cause things that are not normally supposed to happen in the game, such as a rise in elevation without a hillside (like a
cave) where a
waterfall tile once sat and trees that sit on ground water (like a
swamp). Although trees sitting on ground water are a fairly plausible terrain feature, it is not possible to achieve this effect by another means, and probably constitutes a glitch.
Another set of tricks involves using the terrain tools in the city mode which allows players utilize roads in ways that are not normally allowed in
SimCity 2000. The first trick allows players to build an underwater road tunnel; to do this, players are required to create a hill and dig a tunnel through it (the tunnel needs to be long enough so that its entrances will not be demolished during the next step), and then lower the hill using the Terrain tool to a below-water level, thus allowing the tunnel to dip below grade under the water. The second is extremely difficult, involving adjustment of the terrain to allow a highway to connect at grade with a regular roadway instead of using an offramp.
Additionally, the player could exploit several features in game to acquire cheap and effective electricity and water supply. This is possible by creating a long, single-tier high ridge, before placing water tiles on the slopes of the ridge, creating waterfalls (despite the fact that the waterfall has no source or end). From this point on, players may construct
hydroelectric dams on every waterfall, and place water pumps on top of the ridge and between the dams, effectively producing a self-sustaining combination of man-made and natural elements. The low cost and effectiveness of the design is also credited to the lack of need to replace the dams every 50 years like other conventional power plants (besides windmills), and the capability for water pumps to maximize their water generating capacity when placed beside a fresh water source (in this case, the waterfalls).
Perhaps the most useful trick to new players involves a cheat in the bond-handling algorithms (this is, however, a
cheat rather than a glitch). This must be done before any buildings are built or any money has been spent, shortly after starting a new city. The player must type "fund" in-game and press "enter" to the dialogue box that appears. This must be done twice. Next, the player must go to the budgetary dialogue box, and take out a loan. The interest rate will be listed as ".%". From this point forward and the city will be guaranteed an income of about $1.5 million per year, with no taxes. The danger of the glitch, however, involves another glitch in the game: when the city treasury reaches about $2 billion, the total treasury variable will
overflow and "wrap around" to -$2 billion, at which point the citizens will force the mayor to leave town (one of the few ways to actually lose the game).
Another trick involves the "Plant Trees" option, in which the player clicks to plant the trees and then presses the Shift key. This causes the structure(s) or trees to be "erased"; it is replaced with a blank tile square. This may be a glitch, but it is used by scenario designers to hide unattractive powerlines and to create an illusion that those powerlines are buried. This makes the city look more realistic and slightly more aesthetically pleasing. Similarly, the placement and demolition of highways on a radioactively contaminated area (created as a result of a
nuclear station meltdown) or military zones will "dezone" the area and render them reusable again.
One technique to build without spending any money would be to use the
SimCity Urban Renewal Kit (
SCURK). Since the
SCURK allows the user to build a city without any financial limitations, it is possible for the player to open an existing city (which has been made though the simulation engine of
SimCity 2000), modify it by adding as many structures, roads, or terrain features as one wishes and resave it again. The result would be a modified city, without any financial expenditures.
SimCity 2000 can then resume the development of the city through the simulation engine and not be adversely affected by the modifications made by the
SCURK.
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The Windows version of the SimCity Urban Renewal Kit. |
With the release of
SC2K came the introduction of a tool called the
SimCity Urban Renewal Kit (
SCURK). It enabled players to modify the images used in-game to represent various buildings, in much the same manner as general image manipulation software. The player was able to create basic bitmap files of a standard size with a standard 256 color palette. The use of limited palette cycling, which permitted animation, was also possible. A number of pre-altered graphics packages were distributed, including some which replaced the "reward" buildings with images of various well known international buildings, such as the
Eiffel Tower, but most buildings were made by fan-artists and shared on the Internet. Several
SCURK designs influenced the designs of
SimCity 3000's original buildings.
The
SCURK is divided into three areas.
Paint the Town — A graphics program fashioned to produce custom buildings for
SC2K.
Pick and Copy — A tileset (building set) modifier, which allows users to produce new tilesets that display specific custom buildings.
Place and Print — A
sandbox-style city builder with fewer restrictions than
SC2K, which also enables users to print cities on paper. The
SCURK was also bundled along with
Streets of SimCity and
SimCopter, as the
Place and Print aspect of the program was especially useful for non-
SC2K users who intended to build custom cities for either games.
SimCity 2000 Special Edition
A re-packaged version of
SimCity 2000,
SimCity 2000 Special Edition, was released in 1995 for
Apple Macintosh,
Microsoft Windows and
DOS PCs, partly because the original
SimCity 2000 cannot be run under
Windows 95 (not even in prompt mode). In addition to containing
SimCity 2000, it also featured the
SimCity Urban Renewal Kit, new cities selected by Maxis from a 1994 competition, additional scenarios, and movies. The movies were a first for Maxis;
SC2K-SE was the first "Sim" game to feature "real" videos (compared to "animated bitmaps", such as the winning screen in
SimAnt). These videos included the introduction movie and four commentary videos by
Will Wright; the latter were accessed via the "WillTV" application that came with the game.
SimCity 2000 Network Edition
A network version of the game,
SimCity 2000: Network Edition was released in 1996 for both Macintosh and Windows.
The network edition had the ability to share in-game resources and to compete or cooperate with other cities. If the user is on an appropriate
network (
TCP or
IPX), then
SimCity 2000 Network Edition works in a similar way to
SimCity 4, giving the ability to cooperate with other cities (for example, by trading electricity for money, and vice-versa).
SimCity 2000 Network Edition featured slightly different gameplay in network mode, where mayors may start with more money, but must buy land before building upon it.
This version also features a revamped
user interface. Instead of a static
toolbar, items are accessed via cascading menus from the right of the screen, resulting in more screen real-estate for
SimCity itself, without sacrificing functionality.
SimCity 2000 (PlayStation)
The
PlayStation version of the game remains largly unchanged (although the game's directions for getting help is to press
alt+
shift, which is only possible using a computer keyboard) The only additions are scenarios, including one that involves a new volcano forming in
Vancouver (destroying most of the city, and requiring the mayor to rebuild it).
SimCity 2000 (Nintendo 64)
A
Japan-only release of
SimCity 2000 for the
Nintendo 64 in 1997, produced and published by Imagineer Co., Ltd., featured some additional features, mainly minigames, a dating game, horse races and monster breeding, among others, all of them in 3D. A few new "natural" disasters were also included, most of them being giant monster attacks (players were able to use their monster to fight against them). Even when these extras gave the game a lot more to do, many consider it lost the original feeling of the game, since the extras were intended to appeal specifically to the Japanese market.
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A city needs a fire department, police department, and a power plant to operate well. |
SimHealth — Released in 1994, the game simulated
Clinton's healthcare reform proposals for the
US; designed for a niche audience at best, the simulation never achieved great popularity. It featured a
user interface that resembled a city in
SimCity 2000.
SimCopter — A flight simulator based on the cities of
SimCity 2000,
SimCopter, was published in 1996. It had the capability of importing
SC2K cities and allowing the user to pilot a helicopter around them and accomplish missions such as rescuing people or putting out a fire. Reviewers of the time pretty much agreed that the game was an interesting idea, but once the novelty wore off players were stuck piloting a helicopter around a hideously ugly land, with very little to actually
do.
SimCopter was perhaps best known for a rather notorious
Easter egg which, if successfully triggered, depicted scantily clad men in a homosexually provacative state. Due to the (predictable) uproar, this "feature" was patched over in a future release.
— Published in 1997,
Streets of SimCity was a
racing game based on the
SimCopter engine. In addition to racing, it also featured
courier missions and
vehicular combat. However, the fact that this game was incredibly processor-intensive (slowing to a crawl on the
Pentium II microprocessors of the day) prevented this game from being a commercial success.
*However, despite the lukewarm reception of each, both
SimCopter and
Streets of SimCity later inspired the feature "U-Drive-It" from the
SimCity 4: Rush Hour expansion pack.
*
* [ftp://ftp.ea.com/pub/maxis/patches/SC2000/
SimCity 2000 updates]
* [ftp://ftp.ea.com/pub/maxis/patches/SC2000%20Network/
SimCity 2000 Network updates]
* [ftp://ftp.ea.com/pub/maxis/patches/SCURK/
SimCity 2000 Urban Renewal updates]
